Carl Frampton misses weight

CARL FRAMPTON has missed weight for his featherweight clash with Andres Gutierrez in Belfast tomorrow night.

The two fighters weighed in earlier today, and while the Mexican came in under the 126lb limit, Frampton was one pound over. That means the contest, which takes place at the SSE Arena, is no longer a WBC eliminator for the Ulsterman.

The WBC confirmed that the fight will still serve as an eliminator for Gutierrez, though Frampton will not lose his No 1 spot with the organisation, unless of course he loses. He remains an overwhelming favourite to win.

Frampton is returning to his hometown, where he draws enormous crowds, for the first time since February 2015 when he stopped Chris Avalos in defence of his IBF super-bantamweight title. After that he unified the division against Scott Quigg before becoming Northern Ireland’s first two-weight world champion by dethroning WBA featherweight king Leo Santa Cruz.

Frampton suffered his first professional defeat in January, at the hands of Santa Cruz in Las Vegas, and his fight tomorrow night will be his first outing since.

Should he defeat Gutierrez, Frampton hopes to pursue a trilogy fight with Santa Cruz and a meeting with IBF champion Lee Selby.